The Kills; Telepathe

If love really is just a dialogue, as the Kills claim on their latest single "Cheap and Cheerful," it's a good thing that they don't have much use for it. Instead, VV and Hotel, with their sleazy, staccato riffs and tar-stained vocals, articulate pure animal lust. Midnight Boom, their third full-length album, remains splendidly untamed, the pheromones still too powerful to ignore. Though the Armani XXXchange-assisted beats (Alex Epton of Spank Rock), which draw inspiration from schoolyard chants, do misjudge the line between sinister and creepy at times, they rarely distract from VV and Hotel. And the duo's command extends to the stage, where their predatory vignettes are brought to life with sidelong glances and suggestive poses. The tension is palpable, but love's got nothing to do with it. With Telepathe. 18+.
Sun., May 11, 9 p.m., 2008